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'We've had 60 years of hate relationship with India'

May 19, 2009 02:53 IST

Pakistan cannot be swayed by the world community's call to shift troops from Indo-Pak border as it has had a relationship of "hate" with India for the past 60 years, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Monday.

"For 60 years, we have had a relationship of hate with India and we have concerns. We can't disassociate (from that) due to the world community," Kaira told mediapersons in Islamabad.

Kaira was responding to a question on the international community's call for Pakistan to move troops from the Indian frontier so that they could focus on the campaign against the Taliban.

Kaira said "adequate troops" have been deployed for the campaign against militants in Swat and nearby areas, and more forces could be sent to the region if army commanders projected a need for them.

He said six or seven of the Pakistan army's nine corps are stationed along the Indian frontier. These troops are not deployed on the border though the corps and cantonments are located near the frontier, he added.

Pakistan alone had the right to decide "when, where and how many troops" should be deployed, he said. Decisions about troop deployments would be made by army commanders on the ground and not by the political leadership, Kaira added.